4. Trademark, Design

June 21, 2014

Today, the US Patent & Trademark Office officially published Apple's latest trademark application for "OS X Yosemite," under application number 86312402. The trademark covers, as expected, "computer software, namely, computer operating system software." Apple usually files for new trademarks within days after announcing a new product and/or service. Apple legal has been glacially slow this time around to file for any of the new features that Apple introduced at their World Wide Developer Conference held at the beginning of the month.

June 14, 2014

After Apple's grand WWDC keynote earlier this month which covered so much ground regarding iOS 8 and Yosemite, we knew that Apple legal would be busy filing many new trademarks with the US Patent and Trademark Office shortly thereafter to cover such things as iCloud Drive, Handoff, Instant Hotspot, Health and more. Yet the first new trademark filing to surface is for one Apple didn't cover at their developer conference publicly, and it's called "Maps Connect." Apple filed it late yesterday in Hong Kong China. The application has no fancy graphic or link to an Apple website page to help us understand exactly what Maps Connect is all about. Yet they may have left us with a few clues. This Report has been Updated

May 24, 2014

Late yesterday the Patent and Trademark Office in Hong Kong China granted Apple a design Patent for the iPhone 5S case under number 1400380. The design patent covered ten jumbo photographs which our report provides you with.

May 10, 2014

Apple was been granted a series of four design patents for their EarPods in Hong Kong China under numbers 1300311.4M001 – 4M004. Three of the designs include various line art versions of Apple's EarPods while the fourth covers the EarPods in a series of photos from every conceivable angle. The designs are now protected until 2018 in Hong Kong. Our report provides you with a series of jumbo graphics and photos of the EarPod designs along with an introductory video from an event in 2012.

May 05, 2014

In a new Bloomberg report published yesterday it was revealed that Swatch Group AG, the world's largest watchmaker, said it has taken action against Apple over the most valuable technology company's use of the iWatch label, which it says is too similar to its own iSwatch product. Yet when you check their website, there's no prominent smartwatch to be found anywhere and they admitted last year that they "didn't intend to become a big player in this field." While their paranoia of Apple obtaining the "iWatch" brand, the fact is that more than 22 companies already own the brand name. And beyond all explanation, Apple keeps applying for this trademark. In fact, they just filed for this trademark in Korea last month.

April 30, 2014

Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published four of Apple's latest registered trademarks covering iOS 7 icons for the iTunes Store, Music, Voice Memos and Safari. The four were officially granted to Apple late yesterday. Apple's iOS 7, which was released on September 18, 2013, included a redesigned user interface led by Apple's Senior VP of Design Jony Ive. The newly registered icons reflect just a few of the icon updates.

April 12, 2014

Patently Apple has discovered that Apple has been granted two design patents for their new Mac Pro in Hong Kong China. Apple filed for these design patents just days before officially putting the Mac Pro on sale. Today, China's Hong Kong IP Office published Apple's granted design patent documentation. During Apple's 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) opening keynote on June 10, 2013, Apple's VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller introduced the radically redesigned Mac Pro. In a radical departure from the previous designs, the new Mac Pro's cylindrical design was wildly applauded. The Mac Pro is assembled in Texas in a state of the art facility using robotics.

April 07, 2014

Back in November Apple filed four iBeacon trademark applications which covered future financial services, e-commerce, consumer loyalty programs and much, much more. Today, the US Patent & Trademark Office published three new Apple trademark applications covering the iBeacon icon in color and black and white. The applications were actually filed on April first but were delayed in being published to the public until today. Whether they wanted to avoid April fool's day is unknown at this time. Apple filed their icons under two International Classifications covering a wide range of applications including, advertising, business services, retail store services and a car audio apparatus which likely translates into being a part of Apple's CarPlay.

April 01, 2014

On April 01, 2014, the European Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest registered trademark for "Lighting." The oddity to this is that it was actually registered months ago. While the European Office can give the excuse that they've undergone an extensive online site overhaul this year, their timing of this registration news is ridiculously late. Apple's original trademark filing in the US only covered International Class 009 whereas their European trademark is now officially covering four new classes with extensive detailing covered in our report.

March 30, 2014

Apple filed for new iOS 7 icons in the US this past week and we covered their filings in four separate reports (01, 02 and 03) including a bizarre abandonment of their iMovie icon that they had just filed for the day before. Today, we discovered that Apple has mirrored those filings in Hong Kong China as well as adding three additional icons to the list. Our report covers Apple's new icon filings in China as well as a newly granted design patent for their iOS 7 keypad for iPhone.

March 26, 2014

We reported on Monday that Apple had just filed for new iOS icons. Apple's purple stared iMovie was one of the first trademark applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Today, USPTO revealed Apple's "Request for Express Abandonment" of the iMovie icon. The reasoning for the express abandonment of the icon is unknown at this time.

March 25, 2014

On March 25, 2014, the US Patent & Trademark Office published four of Apple's latest trademark filings pertaining to refreshed icon designs for Pages, Numbers and Keynote Apps for both iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks. Our report provides you with jumbo icon graphics creatively joined with miniature versions of Apple's "previous" designs so that you could see how dramatic some of the changes really are. Apple's shift to a digital-styled pen for their new Pages icon is a curious choice of design. Perhaps one day it'll actually mean something.

On March 25, 2014, the US Patent & Trademark Office published one of Apple's latest trademark filings for a special detailed word mark related to their iOS app "Pages." USPTO filed the application under number 86227771. Our report covers Apple's application in-part, their special Pages image and its corresponding specimen page.

March 24, 2014

On March 24, 2014, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple's latest trademark filings relating to icons for iPhoto OS X and iOS 7 along with the iMovie icon for iOS 7. Apple's new iOS 7 icons reflect the new flat design that was launched in concert with the iPhone 5S in 2013. The three filings were originally filed last week according to USPTO's documentation with all of them filed under International Class 009.

March 09, 2014

Apple has filed for the trademark of "True Tone" in Hong Kong China. The trademark pertains to the new iPhone 5S camera flash supporting the backside iSight camera. According to the document, Apple's priority filing for this trademark was made in Jamaica. The trademark seeks protection for an "optical apparatus, namely camera flashes." Update March 11, 2014 2:15 AM MST with U.S. TM Info.